Viola Davis, above, will star in ABC’s ‘How to Get Away With Murder.’

BEVERLY HILLS -- ABC is proudly promising a stronger lineup and greater diversity this fall — in no small measure because it has handed Thursday nights over to Shonda Rhimes.

Rhimes has written two of the network’s major building blocks from recent years, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal,” and this fall they will be paired on Thursdays with a third Rhimes show, “How to Get Away With Murder.”

Rhimes told TV critics here Tuesday that she doesn’t think about building a dynasty, only getting enough explosive ideas for three high-octane shows.

But ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee, at a separate panel, said those kinds of building blocks are a big part of the reason ABC has been able to brand itself as the home of “sophisticated emotional television.”

Lee also spoke proudly of the network’s diversity, which is prominent in all Rhimes shows.

With Kerry Washington already starring in “Scandal,” the lead in “Murder” will be Viola Davis.

Lee hailed ABC’s progress in diversity and took a mild swing at other networks by saying that prime-time shows without cast diversity “feel dated. They don’t look like they reflect America.”

A range of characters today, he said, “isn’t diversity as much as authenticity.”

Broadcast networks, including ABC, have taken criticism for years about their feature shows lacking significant “minority” characters or having minority characters who seemed tacked on, like a black best friend in an otherwise all-white world.

Tom Verica, left, and Viola Davis in ‘How to Get Away With Murder’

(Nicole Rivelli/ABC)

“We’re not there yet,” Lee said. “But I think (ABC has) taken a big step.”

Lee also said ABC, again reflecting moves at other networks, is embracing the “cable model” of scheduling unbroken runs of fresh episodes for its prime-time shows.

“Once Upon a Time,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Scandal,” perhaps among other ABC shows, will break their 22-episode seasons into two parts, fall and spring, with a long break in the middle where another show drops in.

“They will have a fall finale and then return for the spring,” said Lee. “We think audiences now want that model.”